This specification describes generally a system and methods for integrating, viewing, updating, interacting, storing, using, importing, exporting, and managing web history search information from any web search engine or browser. More particularly, the specification describes a system and methods for access, review, management, retrieval, configuration, modification, and analysis of web search histories for prioritization and reusability.
The Internet has become a popular source and revolutionized the way in which information is transmitted, exchanged, retrieved, accessed, and searched. The World Wide Web (the “Web”) enables any user to perform searches on the web over the Internet that contains a plethora of pages with different data information including text, images, sound, video, and other multimedia files provided through a globally connected network. The information in various data files is formatted on the web by viewable presentation to users by a standard page description language, the hypertext markup language (“HTML”). The Web pages thereby utilize HTML. Various Web pages are connected to one another through links or hyperlinks. The links within a Web page allow access or link to other Web resources that are identified by a universal resource identifier (“URI”) or a uniform resource locator (“URL”). The Web environment allows data transaction using the hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”) between server computers (“servers”) and client computers (“clients”), operating on a client-server model. A client typically connects to a server, and the client contacts a Web server for requesting information. The client depends on the Web server for delivering data information and history data since information may reside on the servers. At the request of the client, the server can search, retrieve, and transmit data information back to the client.
A browser is a software that runs on a personal computer or client connected to the Web and looks at and interacts with all of the information on the Web. The client-server model allows a personal computer or client to run the browser in order to search the Web, and access various host servers around the Internet in executing search and retrieval functions. Moreover, the client-server model is analogous to an architecture with limitless file storage medium and databases from which any user can access information using the personal computer or client. A browser allows display of Web sites, Web pages, links/hyperlinks to other Web pages, and retrieves Web resources. Therefore, a browser is an application or software that is used to navigate or view data information in any distributed database such as the Internet or the Web.
Search engines have become widespread and valuable tools for searching and retrieving content information for users of the Internet through the Web. A search engine is basically a software program or Web site that is used for searching other databases and search engines, gathering information from the databases and search engines, and reporting information to the user. As content information of the Internet increases, search information increases as well, and the need to organize and manage Web search results in an easily searchable and hierarchical format becomes imperative.
Currently, mainstream browsers present web search results and history data as a linear concept, however, they have severe limitations in retrieving, understanding, and managing Web search results. For example, the forward and backward navigation buttons on the Web browser enable the users to go forward and backward to retrieve and view past Web pages from a limited, simple list of Web sites that were visited. By clicking on links from a Web page, forward and backward navigation paths are disrupted. History views of Web search results are poorly organized since it is difficult to perform sub-searches within an Internet search session without losing the initial context in which the search was performed. These inherent limitations are a major obstacle to storing, retrieving, integrating, saving, prioritizing, using, and managing Web search results. Furthermore, the process of deriving at certain search and sub-search results are not readily understood or history data stored for later use.
Instead of only having forward and backward navigation buttons on the Web browser to view a limited number of URLs from the search results in a linear fashion, there exists a need to store, retrieve, integrate, save, prioritize, import, and export Web search results for organization, context, and hierarchy. Further, there is a great need for a system and method by which Web search results and Web histories can be organized and managed in an advanced hierarchical manner, integrated with most Web search engines by using the hierarchical history and context menus, and saved by prioritization of Web histories and searches. Such a system would provide the capability to manage Web histories in a hierarchical manner, allow sub-searches within the search results without losing initial context, and provide context and reusability of search/sub-search results and Web histories by integrating with most Web search engines and currently available browsers.